July 8, 2009

Hampton Court Flower Show

Hampton Court Palace, just outside of London in Richmond, on the Thames, was home to Henry VIII, who came to the throne 500 years ago. Each summer, the Palace hosts the Hampton Court Flower show which has a more down-to-earth feeling than the Chelsea show.In honour of the 500th anniversary, there are gardens for each of Henry VIII's wives. Do you know the rhyme to tell them apart? Divorced, beheaded, died; Divorced, beheaded, survived. Simple, no? This is the garden for his wife, Katherine Howard (beheaded, round two).As you take the train into London, you can still see a lot of these old gypsy caravans in gardens. It's a reminder of older times. Wow! If people have issues with clotheslines, can you imagine what they'd say about these planters? I love the way they've used an old postbox as a fountain. When you see these old boxes, you can tell their age by the initials on the front. This one is probably from the reign of King George VI. You can still see some with Queen Victoria's initials. This is a topiary of the shop Mary Rose, which sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982. I wish that we had shows like this here, but we don't have the gardening tradition that the UK does.

Adored this post. Totally agree about wishing we had a Chelsea. Going to local garden shows just makes the comparison worse! Loved the clothesline. Here in Lawrence, we had Bras Across the Kaw (Kansas River) to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness. Donated bras covered both sides of the bridge in an amazing rainbow of colors and sizes. What fun. Stupidly did not take picture.

About Me

Pigtown Design is the musings of Meg Fairfax Fielding, a Baltimore-based writer, photographer and fund-raiser, who explores design, architecture, culture, and current events in Baltimore and around the world.